Overview

In 1909, Louis Glazer began distributing flavored soda waters from the back of horsedrawn wagons in Dallas, Texas. This started a company that would one day become Glazer’s, Inc. In 2016, Glazer’s, Inc.’s wine and spirits business became part of Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC. At the same time, Glazer’s Beer and Beverage (“GBB”) was created to operate the Glazer’s malt beverage distribution business, and today, GBB operates in five states across the southern U.S.

When it began operating on its own, GBB needed to build its own physical infrastructure and security solutions from the ground up. In addition to its headquarters and data center in Dallas, GBB has 11 warehouse distribution facilities and one remote data center, which serves as a co-location center for IT activities that are not cloud-based. Each location includes core infrastructure, with the company’s mobile sales teams using iPads in the field. With multiple locations and a mobile sales team, GBB recognized how important it was to get the right security solution on board quickly.

Challenges

GBB needed a new security solution to protect its network and users. Prior to 2016, Glazer’s was using other security tools to protect its endpoints and email systems. These solutions were not only expensive and difficult to use, but they needed to be installed and maintained at each location and did not include protection for Microsoft® Office 365®.

GBB wanted a solution that would be easy to use, and secure its perimeter and endpoints. Also, they were looking for a solution with a roadmap to additional security capabilities, as needs arose. “We wanted to reduce our risk level and unify security across the organization with a centralized, cloud-based solution that could protect everything, including our Office 365 environment,” said Aaron Cunningham, vice president of IT at GBB.

Why Trend Micro

From past experience, Cunningham was familiar with Trend Micro’s reputation as a security leader. When GBB’s IT security team performed side-by-side comparisons of competing security solutions, he found that the quality and affordability of Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Complete™ made it the clear winner.

“We wanted a solution that wove together all of our security needs in a single cloudbased package, and Trend Micro fit the bill for us,” said Cunningham. “The solution is affordable and met our needs.”

In addition to unifying GBB’s security in a centralized solution and covering Office 365 products—which the previous solution did not—Trend Micro’s cost-effectiveness was a major factor.

"We wanted a solution that wove together all of our security needs in a single cloud-based package, and Trend Micro fit the bill for us."

Aaron Cunningham,Vice President of IT, Glazer’s Beer
and Beverage

Solution

With the help of its channel partner CDW, GBB implemented Smart Protection Complete, a suite of endpoint security products. GBB’s immediate needs included Trend Micro™ OfficeScan™ for endpoints and Trend Micro™ Cloud App Security™, to protect users on Office 365, Microsoft® OneDrive®, and Microsoft® SharePoint®. Glazer’s also chose Trend Micro™ Worry-Free™ Business Security services to automatically monitor, update, and protect all of their computers. “Trend Micro helps us minimize risks across the organization - from endpoint and web security to advanced threat protection and centralized management,” said Cunningham.

"With Trend Micro, the quality of the solutions was beyond our expectations. Everything is easier and more streamlined than prior vendor solutions—and it’s easy to support the low-maintenance platform."

Aaron Cunningham,Vice President of IT, Glazer’s Beer
and Beverage

Results

With Smart Protection Complete, GBB reduced security management costs by approximately 50 percent and has been able to get rid of legacy systems they no longer need. Unified security on a centralized platform simplifies processes and allows GBB’s IT team to easily stay on top of issues. “Having a single pane of glass is important with a small team. Trend Micro improved our IT security and overall efficiency by giving end users tools they can easily use,” said Cunningham.

The solution’s robust reporting capabilities include alerts and notifications that further improve security and management efficiency, while enabling root cause analysis to rapidly remediate issues. “The quality of the Trend Micro endpoint solutions was beyond our expectations. Everything is easier and more streamlined than our prior vendor solutions—and it’s easy to support the low-maintenance platform,” said Cunningham.

What's next

For Cunningham and his team, keeping up with trends and staying ahead of new security threats is an ongoing adventure. GBB is currently developing a security roadmap for the next few years that includes an email security campaign to determine vulnerabilities at the end-user and network levels, which will include the use of Trend Micro™ Phish Insight™, a free tool offered by Trend Micro that provides iterative and targeted education to prevent phishing exploits.

GBB is also exploring Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ for effectively protecting the company’s servers, and Trend Micro™ Hosted Email Security™ for added functionality, such as the ability to view quarantined emails.